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About infrastructure

Ton Haverkort
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About infrastructure

Infrastructure development is the construction of basic foundational services to stimulate economic growth and quality of life improvement. Good infrastructure is vital for the functioning of an economy. Passable roads increase food producers’ access to local markets and allow for the import and export of goods and materials, and are essential for the distribution of fuel for example. Water supply and purification are important for access to safe drinking water for a fast urbanizing and the rural population, and also for the development of small and mediumsized businesses. Exports of local products and imports of raw materials also depend on accessible seaports and airports, while a constant, adequate energy supply is a prerequisite for the success of companies, large and small. However, demand for infrastructure far exceeds its actual development as we do not seem to have the institutional capacity and resources to create the infrastructure to effectively and efficiently provide for the fast growing needs.
We continue to see an enormous increase in putting up buildings, many of them multi-purpose buildings, apartment buildings, hotels, etc. But to arrive at a more conducive environment for sustainable outcomes for citizens and business, infrastructure is more than building assets, and should include long term effects, such as employment creation, social and environmental impacts, and alignment with longer term development strategies. The challenge for government is that this requires strong institutional capabilities, a stable, transparent, and effective regulatory framework, a great deal of technical and financial expertise, as well as the constant refinement of an enabling environment for investors.
So, where do we stand at this moment in time? Here follow just a few observations from the perspective of the small business owner.
In the neighbourhood where I reside, we used to get water from the mains supply system three times per week. This has recently been reduced to two times per week, without any formal communication, as far as I know. The supply of safe drinking water has never been adequate and seems to deteriorate, which is no wonder considering the fast expansion of the city. Any building or business will not get by without storing water in extra water tanks. For those who cannot invest in extra water storage for whatever reason, will have to have additional water delivered by water trucking services. How safe this water is, nobody knows. In any case, substantial costs and risks are added to running the business.
The same applies to the supply of electricity. A few power cuts per day are the norm. Without a back-up generator one cannot effectively sustain a business, while the power cuts cause interruption of production processes and may damage equipment. The running and maintenance of the generator again add up to the running costs of the business, while obtaining enough fuel for the generator presents its own challenges.
With the frequent power cuts comes the interruption of internet services, which business cannot do without anymore in our present days. This while more and more government processes and services like applications for permits and licenses are to be done online. While doing so, chances are high that the online process does not work fully. In case of running into problems one is advised to call a service number, which is normally not answered. Explaining the situation in person to the office is then met with the reply that they are not responsible for the online services, and one is advised to try again. Not every small business owner is ITC literate though and will continue to run into problems. By the way, I don’t know about you, but I often fail to check in online with Ethiopian Airlines, a service one would expect to function effectively, considering the size and kind of the business.
Any business owner is expected to submit the financial returns of the year to establish to amount of taxes due. To complete this process, one goes to an Inland Revenue Office and will present the required documents the one of the auditors who will assess the contents and calculate the taxes due. The way the services are organized is mind boggling to say the least. There are several steps and checks to pass before joining a line of other business owners all waiting to be served by the assigned Inland Revenue Auditor. People wait round his or her desk and all can overhear anybody’s case. Nobody will complete the process in one go and all are sent back and forth a few times to bring missing information. This just shows how difficult it is for the business owner to know exactly what is required to complete the process. Much time, energy and money are wasted in the process.
I can continue but I will not as the reader will recognize some of the challenges, we all face. As mentioned above, an effective infrastructure requires strong institutional capabilities, a stable, transparent, and effective regulatory framework, a great deal of technical and financial expertise, as well as the constant refinement of an enabling environment for investors. I think it is fair to say that there are shortcomings in all of these preconditions, and it requires a lot of work and effort to make the necessary improvements. To see a difference though and to make anything work more effectively and efficiently, we need to see the combination of three basic factors: knowledge, skills, and motivation. Or in other words: I know, I can, and I want.
We can design any project to enhance institutional capacity, to design a regulatory framework, and to develop expertise. To create a truly conducive environment to do business, we may need to work more though on our motivation to provide effective, efficient, and supportive services. And that challenge is ours and ours alone, no matter what role we play in society.

Ton Haverkort
ton.haverkort@gmail.com

Navigating a world in shock

Staff Reporter
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Navigating a world in shock

Overlapping shocks and a breakdown in international cooperation has made crisis management all but impossible at least with the standard tools. The challenge demands new thinking and a willingness on the part of systemically important players to contain their strategic rivalries.

Make no mistake: We no longer live in a stable international rules-based order. The days of unipolarity and global liberalism are over, and we are now facing a confluence of shocks unlike anything most of us have seen in our lifetimes. No pilot is flying the plane: the closest thing we have to a cockpit, the G20, is fractured and deadlocked, despite Indonesia’s valiant efforts as this year’s president.
The international institutions, norms, and practices that we continue to rely on are increasingly being eclipsed by geopolitics. Whatever their rhetoric, China, Russia, and the United States have lost faith in global institutions, withholding their support whenever it suits their interests. While the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, and major players from the Global South continue to support multilateralism, global governance cannot really be sustained without the participation of the world’s largest economies and military powers. Making matters worse, the world is facing at least eight systemic challenges simultaneously. As former Canadian central bank governor Stephen Poloz explains in his book The Next Age of Uncertainty, “when multiple long-term forces are acting together on the economy through time, and interacting with one another as well, the economy itself can behave erratically and appear unstable.” Under these conditions, predictions and conventional policy tools stop working. The first major challenge is Russia’s war in Ukraine, which shows no end in sight (notwithstanding the Ukrainian armed forces’ recent gains). The tit-for-tat weaponization of economic linkages has generated a huge global energy shock that will aggravate deeper social and political crises in Europe and around the world this fall. While the G7, Australia, and South Korea have taken steps to freeze Russia out of the global dollar system and interbank messaging network (SWIFT), Global South powers have not joined the sanctions regime, leaving the G20 split on this issue. Second, despite the Biden administration’s recent legislative breakthroughs, US democracy is in deep crisis. Most decision-making remains crippled by legislative gridlock and an activist Supreme Court, and extremism is on the rise. In a recent book, the international relations scholar Barbara F. Walter warns that many well-known indicators of impending civil war are flashing red in the US. A major survey published in November 2021 found that 30% of Republicans, and 18% of Americans overall, agree with the statement: “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.” Third, China is at a fork in the road. The 20th Party Congress this October almost certainly will solidify President Xi Jinping’s rule and install key powerholders for the next five years or longer. We will then see whether the regime intends to double down on its nationalist mobilization and intensifying social control – including its economically disastrous “zero-COVID” policy, closed borders, and other restrictions. Will China entrench its new isolation, or will it take some steps back toward international connectivity and economic liberalization? The answer to that question will determine the answers to many others. As matters stand, the US and Chinese political trajectories are fueling a confrontational spiral that cannot end well for either side. Fourth, after a period of remarkable unity in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU is entering an extraordinarily risky period of intertwined energy, economic, and social shocks. Italians seem poised to elect a right-wing nationalist government later this month; French governance is divided; and eastern member states remain vulnerable to Russian threats. Fifth, climate-related disasters are intensifying globally – and much earlier than expected. Across South Asia, the Pacific, China, Europe, Africa, and the Americas, heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, and mega floods are disrupting lives, reducing food supplies (which were already endangered by Russia’s war), and fragmenting societies. Sixth, there are still deep post-pandemic uncertainties with respect to supply chains, energy and food markets, and inflation. It is anyone’s guess what global financial markets will do this fall, but talk of tighter financial conditions and recession is in the air. Seventh, these food, energy, climate, and economic shocks are likely to trigger social and democratic breakdown in many parts of the world, especially if the G20 cannot agree on safety-net measures such as debt relief. Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Ethiopia are already in the throes of political and socioeconomic chaos. Finally, the coming months will stress test global-governance mechanisms like never before. All eyes will be on the November 15-16 G20 summit in Bali, the November 18-19 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Thailand, and the November 6-18 COP27 climate conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Sadly, it is hard to expect much from any of these gatherings. What should be done? First, these interacting shocks must be faced with pragmatism, rather than ideology, recognizing that a failure to act collectively will put the future of human civilization itself at risk. Since we remain closely connected through technology, climate, travel, and the broader world economy, global governance through exclusive regional or ideological clubs simply will not suffice. Second, political leaders and policymakers must figure out how to match the kind of imagination that business and technology leaders have demonstrated in recent decades. There are huge untapped possibilities to be explored through alternative approaches to global and collective governance. These include new platforms like the Paris Peace Forum, Global Solutions Initiative, and Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, which bring multiple actors together to incubate new models, or inter-regional groups such as the Alliance for Multilateralism. The G20 should initiate a taskforce on common long-term existential questions and mutual misperceptions. We urgently need a competitive, bottom-up search for new ideas.
Third, large, systemically important players have a historic responsibility to contain their own military and security rivalries, and to support countries that face hardship as a result of the large powers’ actions. In the past, we have found ways to defuse the threat of mutual insecurity through regular global meetings and platforms like the Stockholm Conference on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures and Disarmament in Europe; we must do so again today. As for all the other countries, companies, foundations, civil-society groups, and NGOs, the task now is to generate ideas and form networks and coalitions, with a focus on building resilience and developing anti-fragile systems. If the big players fail to do their part, our last chance may rest with these stakeholders in the middle.

Bertrand Badré, a former managing director of the World Bank, is CEO and Founder of Blue like an Orange Sustainable Capital and the author of Can Finance Save the World?
Yves Tiberghien, Co-Chair of the Vision 20 Initiative, is Professor of Political Science and Director Emeritus of the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia.

The Africa Center and Independent Curators International announce States of Becoming opening

Staff Reporter
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The Africa Center announces States of Becoming, an exhibition curated by Fitsum Shebeshe and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI) on view at The Africa Center at Aliko Dangote Hall from October 14, 2022 through February 26, 2023. States of Becoming examines the dynamic forces of relocation, resettling, and assimilation that shape the artistic practices of a group of 17 contemporary African artists who have lived and worked in the United States within the last three decades, and informs the discourse on identity construction within the African Diaspora. States of Becoming will be the first major contemporary art exhibition at The Africa Center since its transition from the Museum for African Art in 2013, and will be the first presentation of the touring exhibition produced by ICI. Tickets to the exhibition will be available at theafricacenter.org in early-October 2022.
“States of Becoming was born out of my own process of relocating to the United States in 2016,” Shebeshe said. “This exhibition allows for further understanding of not only my own experiences, but also those of the artists. By analyzing both the unique aspects and commonalities together with The Africa Center’s global and local communities, we can reimagine together how we think about how identity is continually shaped and reshaped.”
“There has been a significant and accelerated shift in the ways African and Afro-descended people are now connecting with each other and with the African continent no matter where we are in the world. Culturally, we’re experiencing a renaissance with both our African and African diasporic experiences at the center, rather than having to choose to focus on one or the other, and born from our many histories of movement, relocation, and rebuilding of our lives and communities,” said Dr. Uzodinma Iweala, CEO of The Africa Center. “Through the cultural markers and forms of creative expression that are the most unique to African and African Diasporic communities, States of Becoming explores the ways in which both African and Afro-Diasporic identities co-exist and shape each other, offering us an opportunity to imagine what the contemporary and future Pan-African identity – or identities – might become.”
“In States of Becoming, curator Fitsum Shebeshe contributes a significant and personal view of contemporary art of the African Diaspora, and reasserts the importance of a curator’s lived experience in exhibition-making,” said Renaud Proch, ICI’s Executive & Artistic Director. “All of us at ICI are proud to see the exhibition debut at The Africa Center, an African-centered home for Shebeshe’s vision and the multidisciplinary perspectives of the artists, making this an ideal start to the exhibition’s five-year tour.”
The concept for States of Becoming evolved from curator Fitsum Shebeshe’s lived experience following his 2016 move from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Baltimore, Maryland and his subsequent firsthand knowledge of the weight of cultural assimilation. Confronted with a different society, Shebeshe encountered a wide range of existential questions that shaped his relationship to institutions and culture. Shebeshe also had the realization for the first time that he was viewed as belonging to a minority because of the color of his skin, and a newfound awareness of the profound impact Ethiopia’s traditional and conservative culture had on his personal sense of individuality.
Having found kinship among cultural practitioners from the African Diaspora who shared his experience, Shebeshe has united 17 artists with States of Becoming who either came to the United States over the past thirty years or who are first-generation born. The artists represented in States of Becoming relocated from twelve countries in Africa and one in the Caribbean–Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe–with roots in cities across the U.S., including New York, Washington, D.C., New Haven, Detroit, and Los Angeles.
Like Shebeshe, each artist in the exhibition has had a unique relationship to the U.S. context, which is reflected in their work. States of Becoming explores these artists’ perpetual process of identifying, redefining, and becoming themselves in both local and global contexts, opening up perspectives into multiple states both geographic and emotional in a constant flux of social and cultural adaptations. The exhibition presents work across mediums including painting, photography, sculpture, installation, and video, that express the many different ways in which identity is remade and reimagined. For instance, Nontsikelelo Mutiti looks to hair braiding salons of the African Diaspora, and Amare Selfu moves from figuration to abstraction to express transformation as a result of relocation. These distinct experiences produce a sense of hybrid culture emerging out of real and imagined genealogies of cultural, racial, national, and geographic belonging.
Although the individual artistic methodologies and experiences of the artists featured in States of Becoming vary, each seeks to reconceptualize a hybrid culture formed from real and imagined genealogies: cultural, racial, national, and geographical belonging. The exhibition is loosely arranged with three main categories: those whose aesthetic forms have undergone drastic transformations since migrating; those who desire to share the experiences and culture of their country of origin within the communities in which they now reside; and those who build bridges between the African diaspora and African American artists of their host country. By contextualizing these practices today, the exhibition provides a space to consider the intersections and contribute to the evolving discourse on relocation, resettling, assimilation, and identity construction.
(Africa.com)

Agroecology and Food Sovereignty

Metasebia Teshome
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The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) was first conceived in 2008 by a group of concerned individuals and was launched at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties 17 (COP 17) in Durban, South Africa in December 2011. The alliance was founded on a mission to influence policies and to promote African solutions for food sovereignty. AFSA currently serves as a continental platform for consolidation of issues pertaining to food sovereignty and together marshal a single and louder voice on issues and tabling clear workable solutions.
In order to understand the inner workings of the Alliance, Capital reached out to AFSA’s general coordinator, Million Belay Ali (PhD) for insights on AFSA. Million was recently selected as one of four recipients of the Rhodes University Distinguished Alumni Award for the 2022 academic year for his important role played in linking environmental education with community development and policy influence work in Africa. The award recognized him as one of Africa’s leading champions of agroecology and food sovereignty for food system transformations in Africa. Below are excerpts from the candid interview;

Capital: What is AFSA? What does it do?

Million Belay: AFSA is a broad alliance of different civil societies that are part of the struggle for food sovereignty and Agroecology in Africa. These include: African farmers’ organizations, African NGO networks, specialist African NGOs, consumer movements in Africa, international organizations which support the stance of AFSA, and individuals. The establishment goal of AFSA was to create one African voice which is based on scientific research. Its members represent smallholder farmers, pastoralists, hunter/gatherers, indigenous peoples; faith based institutions and environmentalists from across Africa forming a collective voice of Africa. I believe we are succeeding at creating this collective voice and currently we have a network of networks with about 30 active members.
The other main goal is bringing new agendas, solution and researches to the development of the agriculture sector of Africa. We always work with our two hands, so to speak; with our one hand we fight, fight with those who try to give misinterpretation to the agriculture of Africa, and those who try to adopt their interest using African agriculture, which is historical.

(Photo: Anteneh Aklilu)

Before the pre-colonial arena, Africa was self-sufficient having its own agriculture economy coupled with a strong administrative system. In the colonial arena things changed based on the interest of colonialists including the agriculture system of the continent and even our self-esteem.
Even the pro colonial period was challenging which they still trace all the system in the continent with their interest making the continent always to be dependent on them and we as aid receivers. We are championing the fight against this.
It is not only fighting, with our other hand, we always try to bring solutions through research and studies, such as through agroecology. Agroecology has 3 branches. The first one is activity, for instance irrigation, increasing productivity connecting farmers and professionals, and promoting bio fertilizers. The other is science based researches and solutions whilst the third is to fight influences on the agriculture sector. In order to promote and develop these, we are working to influence policy makers to include agroecology in the agriculture and climate policies

Capital: What is the relation between agroecology and climate change?

Million Belay: Climate change will affect the level and access to food. With temperature and water availability being the key factors in determining crop growth and productivity, change in these factors will lead to reduced crop productivity’
Adaptation is considered a key factor that will shape the future severity of climate change impacts on the food production monoculture nature of dominate agro-systems which may moderate negative impacts. The biggest solution is agroecology which will make farmers resilient, through diversification of agroecosystem, crop/livestock, combined with organic soil management, water conservation and harvesting and general enhancement through agro-biodiversity.
Understanding the agroecological features that underlie the resilience of traditional agroecosystem is an urgent need that can serve as a foundation for the design of adapted agriculture system.

Capital: From your perspective, do you think Ethiopia’s agriculture policy is keen on agroecology?

Million Belay: There are some signs of adoption of agroecology. For example under the Ministry of Agriculture, national resources’ teams do studies and researches on soil and water and also in the framing of the agriculture policy with the support of GIZ.
The outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, COVID-19, and also the conflict in the northern part of the country has made the government to focus on local solutions for food resilience. This not only applies for Ethiopia but also other countries too.
NGOs and funders are also turning their face to agroecology; perhaps unfortunately policies sometimes are influenced by the interest of NGOs and funders and thus for this, working with local or Africa based organization can be solution in going forward.

Capital: What is your view on the western influence on the continent?

Million Belay: Nowadays you cannot help but have a mixed reaction. For instance, if we looked at the USA, the bigger hand of the government is USAID and USAID is a toddle of industrial or commercial agriculture. To understand USAID, we need to see who controls the US government and its policies. Since USAID is a development corporation the goal of its aid is in line with the interest of other similar corporations’. We cannot expect anything new from them.
And if we take a look at the European side, there are corporations, funders and organizations who don’t want to hear about climate change or agriculture development such as agroecology. But I don’t think this will continue since now the effect of climate change is highly observed in the world and their general population mass is highly galvanized and requesting the need for policy change.

Capital: What Agricultural agenda should Africa bring to the Cop27 summit?

Million Belay: We are lobbying negotiators to bring an organized agenda on the Cop27 with regards to agriculture as the continent is primarily agricultural driven. So agriculture and adaptation should be a big agenda and agroecology should be emphasizing as the future of agriculture.

Capital: What are your thoughts on the national wheat project in Ethiopia?

Million Belay: As government, there is no question that feeding the population is a necessity. We can delve into decreasing import so as to reduce dependency but the question of resilience must equally be addressed. There are hundreds of seeds in the hand of wheat farmers but they are mosty using on similar seed in huge farmlands which begs the question, what of the other seeds? What kind of input are they using? Yes it has positive sides as it creates ways for independency but is it sustainable, environmentally or resilient in climate crises? These questions ought to be given much thought.
However, if one asks whether this can be done agroecologically? The answer is yes as we have some exemplary works in around Arsi, Oromia region.

Capital: What are you views on the green legacy movement in Ethiopia?

(Photo: Anteneh Aklilu)

Million Belay: I have been planting trees for the last more than 30 years. I am actually mostly known for that and I am happy that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has centered the same in to a government strategy. When I paid a visit to the countryside, there was visible change as I have seen so many fruits increase which consequently lead to increased income to farmers. I believe this is a great initiative and it ought to continue.
Of course planting is easy, but protecting the plant is another story. Therefore we should strive to also protect the plants ad the strategy ought to change with the location. Overall in my opinion, if from the planting, 20 percent grow on to grow, this will definitely be a huge success.

Capital: Do you have plans on expanding offices to Ethiopia and other countries?

Million Belay: AFSA was first conceived in Ethiopia by a group of individuals and was launched in South Africa in December 2011.
We actually want to open offices in Ethiopia but the problem is that you cannot take foreign currency out of Ethiopia when it comes in. Since AFSA works to distribute its support to its members from money it gets from funders, it is difficult for us to set up an office.
We are planning to open an office in Central Africa soon.

Capital: You are founder of MELKA Ethiopia; on what condition is it now?

Million Belay: Melka is doing so many activities on both national and regional issues related to environment and culture and I am now participating as a consultant.

Capital: What can we learn from the rest of Africa?

Million Belay: We have to learn to be open, intelligent, and ready for corporation with our African brothers for the industrialization of Africa and its agriculture, for African driven solutions to African problems.

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